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Lost picture of young Queen Bess found after 450 years

The portrait of a pale, plain monarch found in a country house is fascinating historians

Richard Brooks

October 19 2008, 1:00am, The Sunday Times

A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, completed just months after she came to the throne, has been found in a dusty and dirty condition in a country house in East Sussex.

Elizabeth became queen 450 years ago next month. The picture shows her as a simply dressed woman in her mid-twenties with a pale face. It is a far cry from later portraits where she is depicted in full regalia after defeating the Spanish Armada.

Its discovery is being hailed by historians because only two other portraits of Elizabeth in the first few years of her reign are known to exist. There are many from later in her reign, including 10 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Even more tantalising is that x-rays of…

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